Aftermath
by XX-Samantha-XX
Summary: The aftermath of a massacre isn't pretty, can they bring their agent back from the depths of his mind. No longer a One-Shot. Rating Changed to M, graphic scenes.
1. Chapter 1

_Don't own the characters. _

_The aftermath of a massacre isn't pretty, can they bring their agent back from the depths of his mind. Just a one-shot. _

_Okay after looking at a picture this came to me so enjoy._

**Aftermath. **

As the coppery blood clung to the air in the abandoned warehouse, the birds sung a sombre tune, they to had seen the horror of the last few nights, heard the screams as peoples lives were extinguished. Watched as a three man team raced to rescue one of their own, one who's life was slipping away with the rest of the blood mixed with hope leaving his body. The sun had set hours ago, not wanting to see the outcome of the day, the day which had started badly anyway. Leaving the moon to hang brightly in the sky, as if it were a guiding light, for the team who had now reached the warehouse to follow.

Entering the crimson sprayed room, they saw all their horrible crimes scenes all in one, the complete destruction of life, life carelessly thrown away as if it were nothing. The systematic way the bodies had been cut and almost ripped apart, at first they thought they couldn't possible find their friend alive in all of this…this bloodbath. It would turn even the most experienced crime scene investigator's and agent's stomachs. Then they saw him, the one who they had been looking for…

One look in his eyes and they couldn't read the expression.

Or, maybe, they wouldn't associate it with the person they knew.

Couldn't believe that someone had caused the look that the once brilliant green eyes now held…

…Now, the eyes were dull, no mischievous spark, no hint of a mega watt smile reaching those haunted eyes.

They had been too late, too late to save him from the horror. They had only seen the outcome; he had seen the cause to the massacre before them.

They'd left him here will all the death and the bodies, all he could have seen were the bodies, everywhere, in his head, in his dreams, in reality. They could no longer reach the man they knew. How could they get back what had been ripped from him?

They knew their friend, part of their family may have been changed a little by the constant torture….But, they could barely look at the scene as it stood now, he had seen it happen, was covered in its blood. He was part of the crime scene and he didn't even know it, couldn't see anything but the horror of the last week.

And they realised without a shadow of a doubt what the look was, what they weren't willing to accept.

Pure and complete terror.

They couldn't accept it because they didn't know how to fix it. Could they fix it? What would happen if they couldn't? What would happen to him now?

The guilt festered within Gibbs as he watched the rest of his team process the crime scene, he needed to get Tony out of here as soon as possible, but the paramedic weren't here yet, and Tony was fading. The remaining light in his dull eyes still dimming as he held him in his arms, he didn't care that he would get reamed out for not follow procedure, the procedures could go to hell for all he knew. But, what _did_ he know really?

Tony had gone missing in the middle of a very gruesome case; they had had nothing to go on, not for the case or for finding where the killer had Tony. Just nothing. False leads and fading hopes were all they had been given.

And they hated it, Abby had been near tears by the end of it all, only perking up as they finally found the clue they needed to find Tony, but they had been too late for the other captives. And Tony had been forced to watch and forced to see their dead bodies for a day or two by the smell of them. But to add injury to insult, they had come back just before the team had got there and hurt Tony, leaving him to die in this hell hole.

He felt movement and looked down at his senior field agent, the agent looked back at him with a spark of hope but it was quickly replaced by something…_no please_…a blank look. Did Tony even recognise that it was Gibbs that held him like a son, it was Gibbs who had cut him from the bonds around his wrists and ankles, and it was Gibbs who kept a firm hold on the cloth held to Tony's side.

Tony shifted away from the grip but it only tightened and pain crossed his face but the look was still blank. A sudden emptiness crept into Gibbs heart, if Tony never remembered what he had with the team, never remembered that they had been his family for the past eight or so years, it would be worse than death. As he would still be alive but out of reach. Never sharing that care-free nature, never seeing the easy going person that he could be again. For a moment he even wished for some inane movie reference, anything that showed him his Tony was still behind those dull eyes. Anything. Something. _Please_.

Gibbs could hardly find the words to help, didn't know what to say to the man lying on his knees, so he watched as his agent lost the struggle, but he needed…no, wanted to help. Do anything that he could to help…but, what. Suddenly he remembered another time, four years ago, it had been so close in that blue lit isolation chamber, what he had said then had worked, but a lot had happened since and he knew Tony believed that he no longer cared. His actions hadn't helped his case either, but it had been to protect him from feeling what he did now. But now he needed to show he cared, even wanted to and he didn't care who heard.

"Tony?" he asked in a voice so soft it couldn't have possible been his. It got no response and the vice around his heart tightened. Reaching his hand around to the back of Tony's head he gently tapped it, merely a token of the usual head slap.

Tony's eyes narrowed minutely, barely shifted if you weren't looking close enough but Gibbs had been. Was that a spark of recognition? Gibbs' breath caught in his throat as he saw it, he'd found Tony in the darkness and brought him back but the fear was still there, he knew it would be a long road. But, he would do it every single time if he had to. Just to get his Tony back.

Having gotten used to physical violence over the week he had been trapped, Tony flinched from the soft touch when Gibbs held his cheek in his free hand. He panicked but Gibbs held firm, which calmed him somewhat, the deal breaker was the look of concern mixed with fear in the bright blue eyes. he listened to the man he now recognised as Gibbs, his boss, his mentor, his…the thought stopped and the images were back, images of torture and death, peoples screams resounding in his head, he squeezed his eyes shut tight, wanting the images to go away. Then he heard the soft voice again.

"Come back Tony, you're safe now."

He doubted that fact but looked up to find Gibbs relaxed; Gibbs only relaxed when the bad guys were in a cell or dead. So he dared to hope, dared to believe everything would be okay. Looking into his boss's eyes he saw the truth and something else…fear. But of what and he remembered the pain, his life was slipping and even Gibbs couldn't fix that. He was scared again, he didn't want to die, not now, not when he needed to be sure the people who had done this were really dead. Needed justice for the waste of life, for the innocent life lost in front of him. his mind had wandered again, he knew it, Gibbs knew it so brought him back again.

"You. Will. Not. Die. You got that?" the tone firm, the same amount of care, maybe, even more than the last time when the blues lights had surrounded him.

And he did get it, so he nodded a little which elicited a small smile from Gibbs. He understood that no matter what, Gibbs would not let him down, and he would always have his six and his doubts lifted. The ones that had been creeping into his heart recently and he felt lighter. Then he heard the sirens and the sigh of relief that came from Gibbs as the paramedics swooped into action. Now he didn't feel as scared, Gibbs would help him through the nightmares that were to come. Gibbs would always be there no matter what, so he let go. He could rest now…

The end

_A kind of weird ending but hey that's what my brain wanted, hope you all like it. Please read and review as always. Though i may think of extending it at a later date, let me know if you think i should. _


	2. Chapter 2

_Well I didn't think I'd post more to this story but a conversation with my brother about writing sparked an idea that I thought could be used in this story. So, enjoy. And damn them plot bunnies for making me write this, I should be updating 'My precious' soon!_

**Chapter 2 **

Knowing that Ducky was capable of calming Tony if he were to awaken in the hospital; Gibbs stayed in the warehouse and scoured the scene with his two Agents. He couldn't possible leave them alone with that. He already blamed himself enough.

In the large, indescribable room, no surface was left untouched by red crimson stains. Even the high windows were smeared with it, as if blotting out any hope with a sign of death. They all tried to fight down the nausea that rose within them as they processed the rest of the scene.

They knew that they would have to look and take pictures of where their friend had been found, everything needed processing after all, but they just couldn't find the nerve to do it yet.

At least looking at the dried blood there was nothing else they could do for the people that it had been ripped from. The fresh blood congealing slowly on the floor where Tony had been found only proved to show them how close they had come to losing Tony and show them how they were to still losing him.

Nothing was certain at the moment. The EMTs' looks had as much as said so when they'd rolled Tony away on a gurney. All three Agents hoped that that wouldn't be the last time they saw their friend alive. For him to make it out of this place and then die would be cruel.

Leaving McGee and Ziva to processes the main room, Gibbs had noticed a few doors on the far end of the dingy warehouse.

Knowing it was clear but through force of habit, Gibbs aimed his gun downwards, ready to be raised if required, before he entered the room closest to him. The door creaked on its rusty hinges and slammed into the wall as Gibbs forced his way through.

Only his training kept his gun from falling from his grasp.

The mangled, flayed remains of a body hung on the wall, still in its shackles. Muscles, tendons, and bones exposed for the whole world to see. Blood had dripped lazily down the wall behind, pooled, and dried underneath the corpse as if it had just been left there, alone, to come to its gory end. Gibbs could only hope that the person had been dead before _that_ had been done to them.

However, turning around only proved just how sick and sadistic these people had truly been.

A video camera.

And if that wasn't enough, a worn wooden chair was situated just beside it. Someone had been watching and recording the whole thing.

He almost threw up as a thought flashed through his weary mind…

They hadn't made Tony watch,_ had they? _

_Jesus._

No wonder Tony had been terrified when they'd found him.

Swiftly leaving the room and closing the door to preserve the evidence it held, he saw that the back-up teams had arrived. They needed any help they could get for this one; they'd called in a few other ME's as well to assist Palmer.

Gibbs was interrupted from his thoughts as McGee spoke nervously; a tone that hadn't been heard for a long time from the younger agent.

"Do you think Tony will be okay?" Ziva had magically appeared close by as well, as if looking to their team leader for answers.

And he really wished that he could give them some.

x-X-x

Elsewhere…

A man pressed play on his video player; he preferred video over this new DVD rubbish, video created a grained effect. As if he was in the movies, watching an old movie, like he used to.

Settling down, the man began to watch what he had recorded earlier on in the week and sighed with pleasure. Hitting record on a different video player, his aim was to make a copy of this tape and send it to those it concerned. Focusing his thoughts back on the screen in front, he watched as he stripped the soul of the man he had come to hate during the short time he'd become….acquainted with him.

_Gliding his bare finger across the smooth edge of the silver blade; he turned from the camera back towards his target who was shackled to the wall, making sure that his target could see everything he was planning to do. Including, the shine of the perfectly balanced blade as the slowing rocking light, which was rocking back and forth off the ceiling via a cable, reflected off it's polished surface. _

"_You know, Agent DiNozzo." He spoke as if fascinated by his own actions. _

"_It only takes a small amount of pressure to pierce human skin, a few more with a bit more force to penetrate bone." _

_To his disappointment, the Agent remained still and almost silent; choosing instead to breathe through the pain his body had already been subjected to. He'd told the others to stay clear of the skin on the Agent's stomach; he smiled as he cut the Agent's shirt off and saw the almost pristine, tanned skin. There were a few scars but that only excited him more; it meant other people had had the same idea as him at one point. It seemed almost wrong to damage such near perfect skin. _

_He watched in wonder as the Agent's eyes crinkled around their edges in pain and he ever so slowly forced the blade through warm, soft flesh. But the Agent still didn't scream, choosing again to breathe through it. _

_Oh, he knew that he'd have to be careful, especially if he wanted the Agent to last for the length of time it took to draw a scream from him But that didn't mean that he couldn't have any fun with him. _

_He felt the Agent tense and wince beneath his fingertips as they travelled a lazy circle around the hilt of the knife where the blood was trickling out; he knew no real damage had been done to the internal organs. He looked the Agent in the eyes as his fingertips reached his lips and he tasted the life force of the Agent. It was a strong taste, one like no other he had tasted before. _

_Panic rose in the eyes as he watched and the Agent moved, trying to get away from him. _

_However, the flash of pain across the man's face told him that the Agent now knew that the Knife was still within him. _

_His target stilled immediately. _

_TBC_

_Well, I hope that I've not wrecked the story as some people wanted me to leave it as it was but some wanted it to continue. Hope you like it and please review. _


	3. Chapter 3

**Chapter 3**

_On the way to the hospital…_

Lights. Bright. Flashing.

Seeping through his tightly shut eyelids; trying and failing to shut out the outside world.

The world scored out his eyes with its hope. With its life.

_Life._

A concept that no longer existed to his fractured mind. Was he alive? Dead? In-between? Which?

Darkness and death penetrated the light, lingering like a shadow, creeping through their dead eyes.

Eyes staring…so much staring. At him, through him, in him.

Pleading, desperate, dull eyes. Then they were gone. Gone like a star going out. Ripped out with…something. Hands? Maybe?...

…feeling…touching…digging around inside him…hurting.

_Pain._

_NO!_ Breathing through pain. Only way to keep from screaming.

The sounds…oh god…harsh laughs, screams of anguish, agony. Then gone, ripped out of the background noise but remaining in his mind.

Fire, twisting within him, burning. Too much burning...flesh dripping away like wax.

Stop! Help!

Not enough, never enough to help.

How he wanted to, needed to help, do something. But the fire in his stomach stopped him moving. Trapped. Silver shining, shimmering off the light, dulled by dried blood. His blood. But…

…But, not just his, hers too. Always dripping down his eyes, down his face. They'd done it on purpose, they knew. Knew he'd be drawn to protect, drawn to her. Always wanting to help, needed to help get her out. She shouldn't have to see what they did to everyone in here. Where was here?

They…they…flayed her, stripped the skin off bit by little bit. Mesmerized by the dripping blood. Bit by little bit her screams faded…then simply stopped. He been told not enough blood was getting to her heart because of what he'd done. It didn't matter that they'd forced him to watch them do it, keeping him just out of reach to able to help; it had been his fault.

Someone pressing down on his side, that side, forced him out of his thoughts. Their words however, were lost to him. Screams still fresh, some gurgling with the blood they'd been choking on, overriding the concerned and calming nature of the voice.

For a moment he smelled something other than decay and death but the death wouldn't leave, it clung on to him and infected his mind. Slowly decaying death.

Flashes again, memories, bodies melting to the floor as they decomposed. Some had been kept there since before he'd arrived.

Hurried sounds. Beeping. The Dark he had become used to was inviting. No more hope. Hope hurt when it was dashed and killed when it was crushed out like a little ant.

Ants? Oh dear…more death...fly's, attracted to the decaying of life. Creatures, eating, and nibbling the insides that hadn't been used for their own fascination.

But all the thoughts, images, and memories overloaded and shut down in a second and silence prevailed.

Darkness prevailed. It was safer.

No pain in the dark, pain in life. No life, no chance of pain.

Simple.

x-X-x

For once, looking at the younger man than had been under his care for the past eight years maybe more years, Ducky seriously doubted Gibbs' ability to be able to simply order the younger man to live. Though, it wasn't due to the lack of conviction Jethro's voice held anytime he made the order, rather, it was due to the broken Agent laying on the stretcher next to him in the back of the ambulance.

There was only so much even he could take. Anthony was strong yes, maybe even as strong as the almighty Gibbs himself, but this. When he had walked into the scene he found himself shocked, which he almost didn't anymore. He very much doubted that they'd seen worse than this. They'd come close a few times but never this much complete destruction of life all in one go. It was truly horrific, the type you'd expect to see in a war torn country.

Not in America where people strived for a slice of the American dream.

Erratic, fast beeping shook him out of his thoughts and he turned his head towards the younger man. The man attached to the monitors was a mere shadow of his friend, shivering and wincing as the ambulance moved.

He looked up to where the being had been emitted from and frowned, Blood pressure was down and the thermometer that had just finished taking its reading showed that his temperature was down as well. And he knew himself that the man's skin was greyer and colder than usual.

All this lead to the assumption of shock. Time was of the essence now and he hoped that the medical personal within the ambulance knew that to slow down now would kill their patient.

The Agent's once open and staring into nothing eyes wavered a fraction and Ducky knew that he had to get Anthony's attention. Keep him awake at all costs. If he didn't then Anthony would slip away from them.

"Anthony, can you hear me?" He tried to get a reaction out of the Agent but it seemed all but lost on the younger man.

His eyes were glazed over, seeing something that was taking away his focus.

He hated to do it but he pressed on Anthony's wound, hoping that it would drag the glazed look from his eyes.

There, for a moment while he spoke, he saw the glaze flicker and willed it to vanish completely.

Optimism fluttered within his chest for a moment as the Agent seemed to focus. However, it was a fleeting moment, then it was simply gone and dread crept in as the Agent's eyes seemed to close and the rapid beeping of the machine seemed to slow.

That was when he realised that the blood that had seeped through the bandage he'd been holding had started to cool…

TBC

_O.o, oh dear, I left you all with a mean cliffy but I should be able to get the next chapter up soon as the bunnies seem to love this story at the moment haha but what in the world have I done with our poor Tony. Please read and review as always!_


	4. Chapter 4

_I know it's been a while for this, sorry about the wait, please enjoy though. I am also wondering if the rating needs changing or not. Thanks for reading everyone. _

**Chapter 4 **

_Images fluttered past in snippets, as if from a jumpy video recording. _

_A dark room seemed to pixelate and then clear in front of him; like he was part of some gruesome movie. _

_Even him being the movie master he was, didn't quite know what to expect, nor what in the world was going on. _

_Everything was set perfectly. _

_The dripping of water, the rattling of chains, both in the background of course. Heavy foot steps close by but not too close to be worried about just yet, no, that would come later. _

_The corridor seemed to look smaller than it originally was; everything was damp, dark, and disturbing. _

_His own footsteps echoed off down the hallway and back towards him, throwing his hearing sense through a loop of confusing sounds. Small creatures and groaning of other people were of course present. _

Yep, this guy had watched far too many horror movies_. He wanted to laugh at that thought but…_

_A BANG made him startle, he spun around, almost unceremoniously dropping to the floor half way round and steadied himself on the clammy but moist wall. _

_As expected, a shadow seemed to linger for a moment and then vanish out of the corner of his eye. _

_He wasn't normally one to scare easily, but the sharp pain that ripped through his stomach forced him downwards and on his knees in seconds, reminding him of the knife still embedded into his abdomen. _

_Then, quick as a flash, the knife was ripped out and he was ripped open by a shadow; blood trickled out of his mouth and dripped on to the ground by where his body had landed. _

_A strong white light seemed to engulf him and he was moving again…_

x-X-x

Ducky pressed harder into the wound, trying to shock the younger man's system with pain to start him breathing normally again.

But Tony convulsed violently, ducky became alarmed when he noticed blood, trickling leisurely out of Tony's mouth.

The monotone beep of the machine that followed was agony to those within the ambulance; rushing the Agent as quickly as they could to the hospital.

"Damn it! We're losing him." The younger of the two emergency medical techs shouted.

In response, Ducky felt the speed of the vehicle pick up even more while he and the younger tech worked to get Tony's heart going again.

Eerily, as Tony had convulsed his eyes has shocked themselves open and now Ducky found his own eyes locked with the younger man's.

Perfectly blank, lifeless and dilated…

x-X-x

_A breeze wisped around his body and he was outside again…? He'd been here before? _

_Had he? _Really?_ Surely he would remember. _

_A blood stream flowed gently past his left side; dark looming trees were to the right of him, a rickety house tittered on the edge of a hill in the distance behind him. Everything seemed to glow dully as the moon hung against a pitch black oddly starless night. _

_And in front a bleak darkness. But which to choose this time?_

_He'd just been in the house in that corridor. Right? _

_He shuddered for a moment, noticing that he was without a coat, or even a shirt. He wished to be…_

"_Where! Where you gonna go Agent DiNozzo." A voice laughed behind him. _

_Tony spun 180 degrees, and the action felt somewhat familiar. _

_He wanted to shout back but no sound escaped his lips. _

_A rustling of leaves had him looking over at the large trees, searching for the source. A scream pierced the cold dead chill of the night. _

_A women was stripped and tied to a tree, struggling to get away from a shadow hovering in her blind spot._

_It seemed all wrong though, the actions weren't, but the setting was. _

_Before he could think about it though, an agonising scream tore through the darkness surrounding her. Covering up the much quieter sound of flesh being stripped away from the body. _

_When he looked back, her face was pale and her legs bright red, muscle exposed to the elements. _

_Running now and out of breath in his own kind of pain, he tried to reach her but she only seemed to get further away the more he ran. _

_After an eternity he got there, but only to see the whites of her eyes go crimson and the remaining flesh being stripped away, then he was being sprayed by her blood. _

_Then, he own skin was like fire, his blood mixed into the stream along with the others' and the white painless light grabbed hold again… _

x-X-x

Tony convulsed with the electric running through the defibrillator this time and a single heart beep was heard.

But only a single one.

And one wasn't enough for him to keep living.

Not by a long shot…

TBC

_I know evil again but the bunnies couldn't help it and they are a little sleep deprived haha. Please read and review… _


	5. Chapter 5

_Again sorry for the wait, please enjoy the slightly disturbing chapter. _

**Chapter 5 **

_The drop slid around his arm in a spiral, leaving a streak of colour around his arm, clinging to each hair momentarily as it spun. _

_Now, usually, blood didn't spin like it was doing around his arm, it just went straight down and dripped off the end of a cold fingertip. _

_His were, however, still warm, his heart was still beating. Maybe faintly and fast but it was still there. Still fighting for its right to go on. _

_Why, he didn't know. Where he was, he didn't know that either. _

_Mesmerised by the slow decent he wondered how much longer he would last. _

_His mind was spinning, or was that his body. Was that the reason for the spiral travelling down to his wrist? _

_For a moment he thought of catching it, trying to get it back into his body somehow. _

_He laughed at his own stupidity. Or had it all driven him slowly mad?_

_It wasn't even his small part of life. _

_Wasn't even his congealing blood drop, drying before it even reached his finger tips. _

_It wasn't even the first one that made its way down his body. His own blood was still leaking ever so slowly out from around the knife in his abdomen. _

_And he was cold despite the stickiness of the room, he knew that wasn't good. _

_He still remembered them first aid classes where they were told about the progression of shock…_

…_Not that his mind could focus enough to remember quite what they were._

_Oh look, there goes another drop, this time splattering around his feet and falling into the growing pool, turning his soles dark red. _

_The room it's self seemed to be bleeding, a river pooled against the wall he was attached to. _

_Trying to move he remembered the pain that last time he'd tried that same action and immediately stopped. God, why did he keep forgetting? _

_Speaking of forgetting, he could remember the last time he'd drunk anything. His mouth was as dry at a…desert? _

_But it was too cold to be a desert. _

_You really are losing it, aren't you, thinking that drinking the blood might quench your thirst. _

_He noticed that the air pressure seemed to change in the room and the blood seemed to dry even quicker as a breeze whipped around the room. _

_Hands were touching his face now, looking into his eyes but he couldn't see them. _

_Tony was looking at her, at the body at the other end of the room. Lying slumped, as if just left there to rot. _

_The smell had made him sick a few times; being trapped there had had the same effect as well. Now he didn't even have enough in his stomach or fluid in his body to even dry heave anymore. _

_A bright light shone for a moment, setting fireworks off behind his eyes. Squeezing them shut, he winced when a sharp pain pierced his skin. _

_A rush of fluid entered his blood. _

_What it was though, was unknown as darkness seemed to creep around him, finally blotting out the bleeding room and the decomposing body occupying the same room as him. _

x-X-x

Just before they were about to shock him again a faint pulse sounded on the monitor and everyone breathed a small sigh of relief.

They had him back for now.

"How far away are we?" Ducky asked the EMT's

"Not far now." One responded while looking their patient over.

If he was honest, looking a the wounds and the heart rhythm, he could tell that the Agent's body was going in to metabolic acidosis and was currently in the Progressive stage of Shock. Fast but weak pulse, shallow breaths, clammy skin and a body temperature that wasn't safe. To top it off the look in the Agent's eye every time they would open attested to the horror and psychological shock.

There wasn't much time left unless the patient had some fight in him.

"He's a fighter." He heard the calm doctor speak up as he was thinking about just that.

However, even the look on Dr Mallard's face told him that even for this patient it was unusual.

The ambulance sped down the busy roads of D.C, everyone on the outside unaware of the horror that lay mere miles away from where they worked, from where they sent their children to school, and from where they walked everyday.

x-X-x

The video recorder had been bagged and tagged, the video which seemed missing, they were hoping to find somewhere in this hellhole.

Thinking of the evidence, telling Abby about this was going to be a completely different problem all together. She was the most emotional of them all and the indescribable horror of this room would curdle even her blood, especially knowing that one of her best friends had been in the middle of it.

Surveying the rest of his team, Gibbs wondered if they would ever be the same after this case. Would Tony be coming back to work? Would Tony even survive the outcome of this case?

He knew that Tim and Ziva were asking the same things in their own minds. And he wished he had them answers, along with answers to other questions running rampant at the moment.

"Gibbs, you might want to come see this." A pale looking McGee called over to his boss.

For his current position, all Gibbs could see was Tim looking through boxes and the surrounding main area.

"What ya got?"

As soon as he saw it, however, he knew the reason for the white tinge to his Agent's skin.

He, himself, could feel all the blood rushing out of his face…

TBC

_A different kind of cliff hanger this time….but what did they find that stopped even Gibbs in his tracks? Anyone care to guess. Please read and review. _


	6. Chapter 6

_Okay, I really need some opinions people, should I change the rating on this as some of this chapter is graphic and I'm not sure where the T/M limit lies. Other than that, enjoy. _

**Chapter 6 **

Gibbs took a hasty step backwards, squeezed his eyes shut and looked again, not quite sure what he'd just seen.

He stared again, inside the box that McGee had directed him to and wondered what in the world actually made someone so evil that they would do _this_.

Eyeballs of every shade stared back at them, following their every move, well that it what it seemed like anyway. The box was lined with metal and there seemed to be compartments, sectioning off different eyes. Like categories, cataloguing the people they tortured. Every single one of them.

Gibbs, himself, hadn't seen the state of the other bodies except for Tony and the one they had found in that room. Which made what he had just seen even more horrific.

In a different box the same macabre approach had been taken. In this one, however, blood samples had been taken, pictures of victims screaming or looking terrified above their separate blood samples. He tried _not_ to look for it but his eyes seemed drawn to the picture of his Agent.

The picture seemed to also imprint it's self onto his retina, he knew that every time he closed his eyes he'd see his Agent's face. It was different from the others and that's what worried him, everyone else looked at the camera in fear. Tony just looked straight at it, an impassive mask on his face, but his eyes…

…they just looked dead, devoid, and desolate. As if his mind had been stripped bare, stripped away, like the skin on one of the victims had been.

The rest of the evidence they gathered from the scene was of the same nature, and they all hoped they would forget the details as soon as they got the people responsible for this massacre.

Gibbs' cell ringing made him and the closet people to him jump, they hadn't been expecting the loud disturbance to their working routine.

"Gibbs."

"Jethro or Agent Gibbs shall we say."

"Who is this?"

"Never mind that for the moment, there is something waiting for you back in NCIS."

And the called simply disconnected, leaving Gibbs none the wiser, standing silently in the middle of the large distressing room.

x-X-x

_NCIS Headquarters _

After collecting all the evidence, a task that was by no means small, Gibbs and the rest of the team trudged back to their desks. Gibbs having not been able to forget the call he had gotten, immediately noticed a video tape on his desk, no packaging, no nothing, just the tape.

There goes any possible evidence he expressed angrily in his head.

Reluctantly, he picked up the tape and headed towards the elevator with the aim of going to Abby's lab and just hoped that she'd already decided to head to the hospital so she wouldn't have to see what he thought was going to be on there. Unconsciously he was holding the tape at a distance; he had a bad feeling about this.

Both Ziva and McGee had watched Gibbs wearily since the call and wondered what had gotten him in such a mood, beyond the obvious of course. They too wondered what was on the tape but and been relegated to their separate jobs for the current case when Gibbs had sent them a glare indicating that they weren't to move from their seats.

If it was important they would know soon enough.

Back down in Abby's lab, Gibbs entered the video into the mouth of the video player, which he'd asked to be brought down when they had been driving back, and started to watch.

Thankfully, Abby was already gone.

A grained picture of his Agent appeared on the screen and a voice laced with enjoyment spoke, if was as if Gibbs himself was there inside the room.

_Sweat rolled down the face of his Agent, agony clear in his eyes as Gibbs caught sight of a blade embedded into his Agent's stomach. He knew from the twitches in Tony muscles what was about to happen but still found himself telling his agent not to move as Tony barely even grunted under the effort to hide the pain. _

"_Tut, tut, tut, Agent DiNozzo, you know you can't move, so why do you try?" _

_A seemingly bright eyed Tony, unbelievably, smiled. A massive, white toothed grin. _

_Well, it would have been if it wasn't for the dribble of blood that leaked out as his spoke. _

"_Because nobody can stop a DiNozzo." _

_Gibbs smiled at that remark but wondered why his Agent seemed in such good spirits here and not when they had found him. What was the significance of this tape? What had happened? _

_Before he could ask anymore questions a crash, on screen, caught his attention. Sounds and gurgling could be heard and a women was forced next to Tony, blood seemingly pouring out of her mouth. _

"_This," The man spoke with glee, "is the consequences for your attitude which will stop if you don't want anyone else to suffer the same fate." _

_The man, who couldn't be identified, then forcefully opened the women's mouth and showed Tony and the camera that her tongue had been cut out. He then shoved the lady so that she clawed at Tony's legs, moaning and pleading as much as she could to help her. _

_She clawed higher up Tony's body, using it as her support, leaving deep scratches along his torso, until all her remaining blood seemed to cover Tony and she collapsed in a heap on the floor. __Gibbs could see what his Agent was thinking and knew that he would only blame him self for it happening. _

_Throughout the whole thing, Tony hadn't moved and only winced if she got close to the knife keeping his movement restricted._

_Nor, did he scream in pain as another knife was forced across his skin, this time, the upper part of his left arm and was left with the blood drops dripping in a morbid curtain down his arm. _

_The man just laughed, a door slammed and Tony seemed to be left alone in the room with the body of the women lying at his feet and more of his own blood escaping him._

Stopping the tape as the screen went black, Gibbs had seen the precise moment where Tony's mind started its slow decline to desolation.

And he realised that he had no idea how to fix that.

TBC

Ekk, this is starting to creep me out now, what is wrong with my evil plot bunnies, I think they need more sleep or something…or, to watch less of what I'm watching in some of my nursing lectures haha. Thanks for reading and please review.


	7. Chapter 7

_Well, I almost got stuck with what to do next for this story but after chatting with my friend , we came up with something really twisted, unfortunately for our poor Tony. But this is a horror story, right? The people doing it are twisted. Please enjoy and sorry again for the long wait for chapters. I start working as a student nurse in a hospital on the 29__th__ so I'm planning to have things updated before then hopefully. Enjoy! ******Warning for this chapter even though the rating has been changed, there will be a medical scene thats quite grusome so be warned**** **_

**Chapter 7 **

Finally at the hospital, Ducky was stopped from going any further into the operating room and forced to wait in the waiting room. He understood why he'd been pushed aside but hoped they knew what they were doing.

"Ducky?"

Abby's voice startled him out of his thoughts for a moment and he hugged the young women before him.

"What took you so long?" She mumbled into his shoulder, even though she had only been there a few minutes before him.

"It took a while to get him stabilised enough to be transported." He responded clinically, he didn't have the heart to tell her that they'd almost lost him a few times en-route.

"He'll be okay, right?" Abby's lip trembled as she spoke and when Ducky didn't respond immediately she held on to the doctor tighter.

"They will do everything they can." The usually comforting words held nothing of what they should.

A silence fell upon the two, both lost in their own thoughts and hoping that they would see their friend again.

x-X-x

In the hospital OR Tony only saw white lights flashing past which, jolted his memory back to a similar time. Whether real or not he wasn't sure.

A rush of liquid entered his blood.

_Bright light shone above him, rattling sounded around him. Someone was moving above him._

_As the light moved he caught a glimpse of the man above him. _

_He almost turned to his side and lost his stomach again. _

_Gibbs. _

_It was Gibbs above him, brandishing a bone saw. _

_And he was strapped to the bed, unable to move. _

_He shouted for him to stop before the bone saw got too close. The evil glint in Gibbs' eyes turned malicious and he turned away from Tony and then turned back around with what looked like a sewing needle with thread attached. _

"_Maybe this will finally shut you up." Gibbs whispered into Tony's ears then grabbed his face and forced the blunt needle through Tony's bottom lip and up through the other, Tony dared not scream anymore. The thread would rip the soft flesh apart if he did or he would choke on his own blood trickling down the back of his throat. All he could do was watch and feel each pin point of pain as Gibbs sewed his mouth shut._

_When that was done, Gibbs' blood tinged hands moved and Tony flinched, this wasn't over yet and Tony knew it. _

_When he could focus again Gibbs had the bone saw in hand, Tony knew what was coming and looked away. _

_The man he had come to see as a father figure hovered over him, staring at him as if he was some piece of meat, as if just experimenting on something insignificant. _

_Cold metal slid across his already damaged arm. As the blade cut through the skin like butter Tony tried not to scream, the thread was tearing as were the tendons and elastic fibres in his muscle. _

_Having got through the tanned but pale skin, the raw muscle snapped and shrivelled with the tendons, never to be useful again, the grating of bone shuddered through his nervous system, pain receptors flaring and dying like the blink of an eye. _

_Flesh tore apart around his lips as he'd screamed in agony, the tattered skin bled and he started choking on whatever blood was left in his body. _

_For a moment he was left alone then a hand forced him to look at the remains of his arm. The fingers twitched and he felt it, however, it was no longer attached to him and blood pumped out dramatically in squirts, spraying his lower body with crimson. _

_Staring at the white light above him he wondered how long it would take him to just die. _

_Then in another flash he was strapped back to that wall..._

x-X-x

"Doctor Mallard?" A doctor dressed in scrubs approached and asked the two people wait in the waiting room.

Ducky rose and greeted the doctor kindly, the smile on his face faltered at the look in the younger doctor's eyes though.

Abby, noticing the look, held her hand to her mouth, eyes shining and silently screaming _this can't be happening_.

An unforgiving silence seemed to stretch between the three people and the surrounding area; all suck for what to say next. Two hoping that their friend was still alive; the other not wanting to worry the Agent's friends too much but needing to tell them it was and still will be touch and go.

"While your friend has pulled through so far," Abby's expression lifted a little knowing Tony was alive at least, "it is still uncertain that he'll make it through the night. If we can get him that far his chances will go up."

The doctor took a moment to look at the notes in his hand and decide what to tell his patient's friends, he would talk to the elder doctor in more detail later as requested but right now he could tell that the young women couldn't take much more information.

"What do you mean his chances will go up, can't you say more than that! Can't you say that he'll at least be out of the woods?" Abby growled, tears leaking down her face.

"I'm sorry that I can't say more than that, the injuries were extensive, it seems he was given just enough to live through what ever had been done to him but in the end they didn't take that precaution and his systems have been put under too much stress. I will know more tomorrow, I am hopeful but it might be time to ring his family." The doctor spoke softly towards Abby.

"We are his family." She choked out, no longer angry.

"I believe that what dear Abigail means is that we have all become as close as family, I shall let his family know." Ducky spoke up and the younger doctor nodded and walked away.

"Are you really going to let Tony's father know, Ducky? They don't talk a whole lot." Abby asked, realising that the doctor wouldn't know that Tony had a different kind of family.

"He has a right to." Whether or not it was right for Tony or not was another matter, he hadn't come previously when his son had faced death in the past…

TBC

_Ooo, will he come or not ? You shall have to wait and see, and what in the world happened to the other people to make Tony see that. Thanks for reading and please review._


	8. Chapter 8

_Sorry for the wait everyone but here is the next chapter, enjoy. _

**Chapter 8 **

Seconds seemed to slither slowly past as the team waited out the night; shoes and trolleys squeaked and clattered past. Nurses, doctors and other staff milled around, opening and closing heavy doors, moving equipment, and people off to different part of the hospital. Other people came and went in the blink of an eye, as if to spite the ones still waiting in limbo.

The florescent, artificial, lights bounced off the plainly decorated white walls, distorting the time outside, making it seem like the darkness never blacked the sky or the stars never twinkled. The only way to tell was to look out of a plain looking simple window and see the stars staring back at you.

The team waiting for news were still waiting to see if their friend would survive the night. They had been allowed to take turns in seeing him but each time they did they didn't want to come back to the waiting room, as if when they left then their friend would disappear or otherwise cease to live.

Each and every time they would return to the silence, the mechanical beep of the machine monitoring Tony's life would be buried deep within their mind, taunting them and disturbing their sleep, each time they closed their eyes.

The only upside they could see, was the longer they were coming in and out of that room the more of a chance Tony had. It was by no means their first time here nor would it be their last.

Abby's eyes followed the movements of the moon out of the window having taken the doctors words to heart maybe a little too much. McGee supported Abby's head on his shoulder offering the only comfort that Abby needed at that moment. Ziva had fallen asleep a while ago next to them, needing only to have seen that Tony was surrounding by people who could help him.

Ducky kept an eye on the door which held Anthony and Jethro behind it.

x-X-x

The wailing of an alarm got Gibbs' attention.

Seconds after, Tony's eyes were open and staring.

Staring wildly around, trying to make sense of the brightness of the room; the last time he remembered anything it was dark.

A few more seconds of searching and tortured green eyes landed on Gibbs, Gibbs smiled but Tony looked away from his would be saviour. Though, not before Gibbs had had the chance to see the look in the younger man's eyes.

Fear.

Gibbs took a slow step closer, hoping to be abler to calm his Agent like he usually would. Tony, with all the power he could muster in his condition, shrunk back, away from Gibbs.

It wasn't like it was the first time Tony had looked at him like that since they'd found him but this was different. This wasn't fear of what had happened or of the nightmares to come.

It was fear of him. As if he'd been the one that had tortured him.

Then, nurses and doctors were shooing Gibbs away and Gibbs was left standing out in the cold corridor, wondering what the younger man had seen. Now, standing in the silence, Gibbs realised with a disturbing clarity that the only thing in Tony's room that had made a sound was the alarm.

Ice laced itself around Gibbs' nerves, stomach rolling fiercely. They wouldn't have done to Tony what they had done to that poor women, would they?

The marine in him told him the notion was stupid, the doctors would have told him by now if that had happened. Yet, for some reason his fear weren't letting up, he needed to get back in there and see for himself.

As if to torment him the alarm screamed within his mind, increasing in speed the closer he got to the room. As he was about to step across the threshold of the room he was stopped by one of the doctors, glaring in impatience at the man for stopping him, he reluctantly heard him out.

"You should go back to the waiting room Agent Gibbs." The Doctor put as simply as possible knowing that Agent Gibbs hated chit-chat. Not waiting for the explanation, Gibbs cut the doctor off.

"Why the hell should I, it's my Agent in there." While Gibbs appreciated someone being forward, _this_ he didn't have the time for; he needed to check, needed to see that his Agent could still speak.

"Well, it seems that_ your_ Agent is afraid of you and it would not be conducive to his recovery if he was constantly afraid that someone was going to hurt him."

It took a moment for the whole sentence to sink in and when it did Gibbs' blood boiled. Gibbs invaded the personal space of the tall doctor and glared dangerously at him and ignored the man, stepping around him and straight back into Tony's room.

"He's not afraid of me, I'm his boss." Though Gibbs didn't know who he was trying to convince as he said it and approached Tony for the second time in a matter of minutes.

And for the second time that day, as soon as Tony noticed who was in the room the alarms screeched again. And again he was pushed out of the room. His burning question not having been answered.

x-X-x

_The light that infested his safety burned him, scorching his skin. _

_It had happened slowly at first, a single bright star shimmered in the pitch black he'd become comfortable within. It's cold grasps having saved him on many of occasions in the past. _

_The light was dangerous though. The strings were made of that fiery glare. _

_Thin strings of memories would entangle his limbs if he were to drop his guard. They would spread like wildfire, sparking his pain receptors and awaken him to a world only filled with horror and agony. And he'd he left exhausted and weak, clinging onto the darkness. _

_This had gone on for a while, it was almost cyclic in nature, the memories would come, he would fight them away, sometimes he'd win, and sometimes he wouldn't. The times he wouldn't had left him fighting that much harder to win the next time they would try. _

_The strings were course as if like rope binding him to life and if one won it would leave a mark behind, causing him to wince even in the safety of the night. _

_Looking around, the light seemed to have grown in strength and width, shadows moved behind the light and faint voices could be heard, the edges fraying and rolling as if burning like paper. _

_The colour white had become bad long ago, once meaning hope and safety to meaning clinical experiments, having been distracted by the new invasion of hell he moved just a little too slowly to avoid being engulfed by its brightness. _

A memory destroyed the strength he had slowly gathered and he was thrust into reality.

The cleanliness of the room forced his pulse to rise while he became aware of his body and surroundings, all that he knew was bad was staring at him, and he longed for the dark again.

His eyes searched for the exit, within each memory was an exit, there always had been somewhere but this seemed different. Here there was warmth and sounds other than screams, taking his time he noticed he was being watched and tensed. Daring to look around he regretted it immediately.

That man was there again, the one who…

…_the screams started again and he was thrown down to a table._

_Blood thickened the air, fingers clawed inside his wound, stretching the skin around it, he felt it tear and forgot that he wasn't meant to make a sound. _

_His punishment, he felt like his insides were being dragged out….maybe they were…._

But it didn't continue and he was again faced with pure walls, walls that screamed as they rippled.

Then everything stopped and he was left alone.

But only for a moment as raised voices moved closer to him; comforting hands of the deep dark started clawing at him again, dragging him to his safety.

But not before he saw that man's face again and disembodied screams tore through his mind, increasing his pulse in fear then forcing him into a submissive darkness that no started to choke every ebb of safety it used to hold.

Nowhere was safe now…

TBC

_yay, I got the chapter finished, sorry for the wait, as for the constant screaming of the alarms, due to working on the wards that alarm of some of the machines keeps invading my head therefore they all had to suffer it too haha I'm so cruel to them and poor poor Tony whos mind is sooo messed up I was getting confused writing it….i suppose it is something I will get used to haha…thanks for reading and please review :D _


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